“What? No way. I can’t go on there. What if we fall?” Hope whimpered. Actually whimpered.

“Death by splat or Barbarian Boy.” I pushed her toward the bridge. “Go. Or I’ll tell everyone on the team you’re a sissy.”

That must have pushed everyone into action because Braeden got out there, holding Tish’s hand, with Hope following behind. I stepped onto the rope, totally not liking how tall I was right now.

Or the fact I couldn’t see the bottom. It was like an endless pit of darkness down there.

The rope swayed. The board beneath my foot snapped. Tish squealed.

“We’re too heavy,” Braeden said.

“Keep going.” I stepped off to lessen the load. “Hurry!”

“No. Riley!” Tish turned around, but she ran into Hope. “Riley!”

“Go!” I spun around to some cracking branches.

Barbarian Boy broke through the trees. He tilted his head back, sniffing. “Where is my human?”

“Fell over the side. Dumb humans, can’t see crap in this dark.” Not that I could much either. There wasn’t a sun, the sky was orange, and it made everything look like it did at sundown. I could see, but not very clearly.

He just stood there, staring at me.

Evidently he wasn’t very interested in ripping me apart, so I’d hang out and have a staring contest with super freak if that bought my friends some time to get away.

Barbarian Boy laughed.

“How old are you?” Yeah, let’s go for a distraction. He must not see my friends sneaking across the tightrope bridge.

He stood even taller. “Ten.”

Big for a ten-year-old. My heart pretty much fell into a major sprint, like I was running down the field ready to make a big score.

“Going to get as big as your mom there?” I pointed behind him.

She’d been standing there a few seconds, watching. Kind of reminded me of a wild bear protecting a cub. Nearby if anything went wrong, and ready to squish anything that threatened her Barbarian Boy.

At this moment, that’d be me.

His wings shot out, and he growled as he torpedoed into the air.

I grabbed his foot. That barely stopped him, though. He dipped a little and then I was airborne.

He’d taken off with me attached.

This wasn’t good.

He shook his leg. I clawed my way up to his knees as his wings flapped. I punched his stomach. He grunted. Leaned forward.

His talons came at me. Suddenly the wind his wings were creating stung. Burned like acid on my back.

“Riley!” Hope screamed.

I held tight to his thigh and grabbed a wing with my free hand. I got a fistful of black feathers. They weren’t soft like I thought they’d be. Felt more like little razors. Not super sharp, but close.

A roar came from the cliff edge. His mother reached for me, but we were too far away. Barbarian Boy cried out. I yanked his wing with all my strength. Cracks and pops vibrated into my fingertips. His howl confirmed I’d done some damage.

Good. No way was he getting to the other side. Even if I went down with the thing, he would not hurt my family.

He dipped. We weren’t quite to the other side, but getting close. I hoisted myself up and punched his face. Now closer to the base of his wings, I grabbed on with both hands.

And pulled as hard as I could.

Down we went.

~~~~~~

Join us Friday for Chapter 17 of Watcher of the Realms. Be sure to subscribe to the site to not miss a single chapter of Riley’s adventures.

Categories

Categories

Amazon Services LLC Associates Program

Lynn Rush, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.